Sunday, February 20, 2011

acting games!

We've compiled lists of acting games and exercises that we like doing as both ice breakers as well as games to hone acting skills. Some great games that we've found (and hopefully will be acting out soon ourselves) are

Sit, Stand, Lean:

Players - not limited, in multiples of 3

How to play - in the simplest cycle, 3 players play. One can sit, one stands, and only one leans. They act out a scene and while acting out, one person randomly changes their position - let's say from sitting to standing. At the same time, the other two must change their position accordingly to make sure that the equilibrium of only 1 person standing, 1 sitting and 1 leaning remains. Fun, and keeps everyone on their toes!

Foreign Film:

Players - not limited, even numbers only

How to play - if 4 are playing, then 2 act out the scene and 2 translate. The two "actors" are given a foreign country, and act out in a made-up foreign language. The other 2 translators stand and translate the act, by guessing what the actor could be saying. Confusingness results in hilarity!

Freeze!

Players: not limited, some will be playing and some standing by to play. one "controller"

How to play: 2, 3, 4 or more players start acting out a scene from a play. The controller watches and randomly yells out freeze - at which point all the actors freeze. The person who was currently acting now steps out of the scene and someone else from the actors standing by replaces him/her.

How to Play: You gotta have seen Whose Line Is It Anyway? This game tries to do exactly what they did in each show - get a bunch of scenarios, and a bunch of characters. Each player picks a character, and there's a collective scenario that gets chosen. The game - improvise!!

The Acting Wheel

Who are we?

The Acting Wheel is a group of people in Karachi who are crazy-passionate about acting. We meet to spontaneously act out scripts, play acting games, laugh and generally goof off. To join the wheel, just go to www.facebook.com/theactingwheel. To ask us anything, or give us tips, suggestions, advice or feedback, drop us a line at theactingwheel@gmail.com.